Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), who performs under the stage name Lady Gaga, is a singer, songwriter, musician and actress from New York City, New York, United States. Perhaps unsurprisingly given her flair for grand gestures, Lady Gaga has deep roots in drama. Gaga played piano as a child and pursued musical theater in high school, regularly auditioning for New York-based television shows, notably landing a background role for a 2001 episode of the highly successful show "The Sopranos". At the age of 17 she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in their Collaborative Arts Project 21. As she studied, she continued to eke her way into show biz, winding up with an appearance on MTV's short-lived post-Punk'd reality show "Boiling Points" in 2005. Not long afterward, she left school so she could concentrate on her music, fronting a group called Stefani Germanotta Band, which released an EP in January 2006 titled "Red and Blue" prior to splitting. The group dazzled locally when performing live at New York bars, but this was merely the start of Germanotta's stardom. She then teamed with producer Rob Fusari, a collaboration that produced not only her stage name Lady Gaga, but recordings that led to her signing with Def Jam in the fall of 2006. Her association with Def Jam was short-lived: the label dropped her early in 2007. Gaga rebounded by working with performance artist Lady Starlight, the two developing the Lady Gaga & the Starlight Revue, a tongue-in-cheek neo-burlesque act that gained positive press and proved to be her last stop before signing with Interscope later in 2007. While at Interscope she created a bond with producer and singer Akon, who convinced Interscope head Jimmy Iovine to have her co-sign with his Kon Live imprint, and Gaga began working with producer and songwriter RedOne, a union that led to the songs that would bring her fame: "Just Dance (featuring Colby O'Donis)", "Poker Face", "LoveGame"... These songs formed the foundation of The Fame, the debut album that appeared in August 2008. Initially, Lady Gaga had greater success in Europe, thanks in large part to the aforementioned Colby O'Donis collaboration "Just Dance", which earned club play in the U.S. and chart placement in other territories. Gaga's march toward the top of the American chart was slow but the single reached the peak position in January 2009, followed swiftly by "Poker Face," the #1 single that firmly pushed her into the mainstream, its popularity growing so large it often functioned as a punch line on television in addition to winning a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Promotional singles "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich", "Vanity" and the Space Cowboy-assisted festive cut "Christmas Tree" also helped her gain a fanbase. And whilst third single "Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" was only successful in Oceania and select European countries, "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi" appeared as chart-topping singles around the world before Gaga released "The Fame Monster" in late November of 2009. The mini-LP, available separately and as a package with "The Fame", contained the single "Bad Romance," whose popularity soon rivaled (and eventually arguably surpassed) "Poker Face" and helped kick-start a stellar year for Gaga in 2010, peaking at #1 in various countries and even becoming the most viewed YouTube video of all time at one point. That same year, the incredibly successful Beyoncé duet "Telephone" and the smash hit single "Alejandro", along with the successful Monster Ball Tour, put Lady Gaga front and center with the public as she worked on her sophomore album "Born This Way", announcing its May release on New Year's Day 2011. The steady march to the spring unveiling of the album was preceded by the release of three singles: "Born This Way", "Judas," and "The Edge of Glory", as well as promotional single "Hair". All of the singles reached the top ten in a great amount of countries, with "The Edge Of Glory" peaking in the top 3 of many charts, such as its #2 in Australia and #3 in the USA, and "Judas" snatching a #2 in Italy for Gaga, despite the latter getting boycotted on radio for its controversial religious themes. The empowerment anthem that was the title-track hit #1 in many countries soon after its release in February 2011. The accompanying album arrived to mixed reviews, but it eventually reached double-platinum status and produced subsequent hits with the top ten "Yoü and I" (#6 in USA, #5 in New Zealand) as well as a Top 30 entry for "Marry the Night", which also peaked at #11 in Canada. A full remix of the album, naturally called "Born This Way: The Remix", appeared at the end of the year, as did a holiday television special called "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" and an accompanying extended play, "A Very Gaga Holiday", which featured her performing some of her acoustic hits as well as some covers. She also had moderately successful collaborations that year with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Tony Bennett and The Lonely Island. Gaga continued to promote "Born This Way" throughout 2012, appearing at various star-studded events and on television programs while continuing her international tour. The tour came to a halt in February of 2013, when she announced that she needed hip surgery to repair a labral tear, broken during her performance of the song "Scheiße". As she was healing, she worked on her third studio album, "ARTPOP". Preceded by the #4 single "Applause", the top 15 follow-up "Do What U Want" (a duet with R&B singer R. Kelly), as well as promotional singles "Venus" and "Dope" (the latter of which peaked at #8), "ARTPOP" was released in early November 2013. The album explored familiar themes of fame, love, and empowerment. It debuted at number one in several countries, including the U.S. The release of Artpop coincided with an announcement that Gaga had parted company with Troy Carter, her manager of five years. Then, shortly after she embarked on the ArtRave tour in May 2014, it was revealed that Bobby Campbell -- her new manager -- had signed them both up to Artist Nation, the artist management division of Live Nation Entertainment. That same year, Gaga worked in collaboration with fellow New Yorker Tony Bennett on an album of jazz standards titled "Cheek to Cheek", which was issued in September. The album provided a jolt to Gaga's career. It debuted at number one on Billboard's Top 200 and earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Album, its success opening the door to other snazzy showbiz gigs. First, she sang a tribute to The Sound of Music at the 2015 Academy Awards and, a year later, she was nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar for "Til It Happens to You," the tune she co-wrote with Diane Warren for the documentary "The Hunting Ground". The track entered the charts in various countries, including a Top 5 in Greece. It also peaked at #95 in the USA. However, "Til It Happens To You" hit #1 on the "US Dance Club Songs" chart. Gaga was also cast as a lead in the 2015-2016 season of American Horror Story, winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Elizabeth. She returned with new music on 2016's "Joanne", which was inspired by her late aunt of the same name. Drawing on glam rock, disco, and folk, as well as dance-pop, the album featured an impressive list of collaborators, including Mark Ronson, Nile Rodgers, Father John Misty, Josh Homme, Florence Welsh, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, and Beck. Featuring the singles "Perfect Illusion," "Million Reasons" and "Joanne" (as well as promotional single "A-YO"), the album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 but quickly lost traction on the charts. It wasn't until February of 2017 when the success of her Super Bowl halftime show would set Gaga on the comeback trajectory. In addition to returning "The Fame", "Born This Way", and "ARTPOP" to the charts, the momentum from her performance landed her latest studio album "Joanne" at #2 and "Million Reasons" at #4 on the Hot 100. Before embarking on the "Joanne World Tour" in August 2017, she issued the standalone single "The Cure", which premiered at the "Coachella" music festival which Gaga headlines. The documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, which partially focused on chronic physical ailments that would eventually cause the cancellation of the final stops of the world tour, was released in September of that same year. That year, she also does background vocals for Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, as well as U2. In 2018, Gaga was one of the many high-profile artists featured on Elton John's tribute covers album, "REVAMP". She is also featured on CHIC and Nile Rodgers' 2018 version of the classic "I Want Your Love", as well as on Brian Newman's cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Later that year, she also joined the cast of the "A Star Is Born" remake as protagonist Ally Maine, which was her first role as a lead artist. The movie was amazingly successful, earning $434.9 million in Box Office and so becoming the highest grossing movie with a singer as a lead actress. The accompanying soundtrack to "A Star Is Born", alongside actor and director Bradley Cooper, was also immensely successful, gaining both gigantic critical and commercial success. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 231,000 album-equivalent units, making it Gaga and Cooper's fifth and first album to top the chart respectively. The soundtrack stayed atop of the chart for 4 weeks, making it the first since 2013's "Frozen" soundtrack to do so. It has also sold over a million pure sales in the USA, the first album since 2017's "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack to do so. The "A Star Is Born" soundtrack also spawned the #1 smash-hit Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper collaboration titled "Shallow". The Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Anthony Rossomando co-written ballad is the most awarded song in history, winning 41 awards including two Grammys and an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". "Shallow" is certified at least platinum in 11 countries including the USA (x1 platinum), Italy (x3), New Zealand (x3), Australia (x6) and France (diamond). The single has also topped the charts in more than 20 countries (including the USA) and peaked in the top positions of various others. Despite not being international singles; "Always Remember Us This Way", "I'll Never Love Again", "Is That Alright?" and Cooper's "Maybe It's Time" were also moderate hits from the soundtrack, peaking at #41, #36, #63 and #93 respectively. In September 2019, Gaga will release her first beauty line known as "HAUS Laboratories" exclusively through Amazon. The pre-order was released in July, a few days after the reveal trailer, which reveals the main motto for the beauty line: "Battle for your life". Lady Gaga is currently working on her new album, currently nicknamed "LG6". The singer teased she was "pregnant with [the album]" in March 2019, however, nothing has been officially announced yet. The LP is been worked on by producers BloodPop®, Boys Noize, Skrillex, Baseck, Diplo, DJ BURNS and Gaga herself. She has also said that the album is to be a "surprise".